Can an Antec NEO ECO 520W support a 580GTX?

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dpro

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Hey all,

Quick question regarding my system and if it can handle a 580GTX.

Right now my current setup is:
AMD Phenom X2 1050T
8GB RAM
1 HDD
460GTX
DVD Burner
4 - 120MM Case fans
Antec NEO ECO 520W (2 years old, was brand new when bought)

Now I went to the nvidia site, which "requires" a 600W power supply for a 580GTX. I am wondering a few things here:

1.) Can my PSU even support a 580GTX with my current setup?
2.) If I went the route of getting a core i5-3450 cpu and mobo, would that give me more headroom? I don't plan on overclocking especially if I am in a tight spot.
3.) If I did an upgrade of CPU/Mobo, would it make more sense to upgrade the PSU (assuming I can afford a reasonable PSU, like a 600/650)?
 
1. yes, perfectly fine.
2. not really. probably wont make a difference.
3. an upgraded PSU may run cooler and quieter since it would be operating in a more efficient mode.
 
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GeForce GTX 580 review
By: Hilbert Hagedoorn Edited by Ian R Barling | Published: November 9, 2010



Hardware installation

Installation of any of the GeForce GTX 580 card is really easy. Once the card is installed and seated into the PC we connect the one 6-pin and one 8-pin PEG power connectors to the graphics card. Preferably your power supply is compatible; most high-end PSUs built after the year 2008 have these connectors as standard:

GeForce GTX 580 needs one 6-pin PEG connector and one 8-pin PCIe PEG connector.

Preferably the PEG headers should come directly from the power supply and are not converted from 4-pin Molex peripheral connectors. Don't forget to connect your monitor, you can now turn on your PC, boot into Windows, install the latest compatible NVIDIA GeForce Forceware driver and after a reboot all should be working. No further configuration is required or needed.

GeForce GTX 580
Power consumption

Let's have a look at how much power draw we measure with this graphics card installed.

The methodology: We have a device constantly monitoring the power draw from the PC. We simply stress the GPU, not the processor. The before and after wattage will tell us roughly how much power a graphics card is consuming under load.

Our test system is based on a power hungry Core i7 965 / X58 system. This setup is overclocked to 3.75 GHz. Next to that we have energy saving functions disabled for this motherboard and processor (to ensure consistent benchmark results). On average we are using roughly 50 to 100 Watts more than a standard PC due to higher CPU clock settings, water-cooling, additional cold cathode lights etc.

Keep that in mind. Our normal system power consumption is higher than your average system.

Measured power consumption

System in IDLE = 187W
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 447W
Difference (GPU load) = 260W
Add average IDLE wattage ~ 20W
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 280 Watts

Mind you that the system wattage is measured from the wall socket and is for the entire PC. Below, a chart of measured Wattages per card. Overall this is much higher than reference, this is due to an increased GPU voltage to allow easy overclocking and the standard higher clock frequencies.
Power Consumption Cost Analysis

Based on the Wattage we can now check how much a card like today will cost you per year and per month. We charge 0,23 EUR cents (or dollars) per KWh, which is the standard here.
Graphics card TDP in KWh KWh price 2 hrs day 4 hrs day
Graphics card measured TDP 0,28 0,23 0,13 0,26

Cost 5 days per week / 4 hrs day € 1,29
Cost per Month € 5,58
Cost per Year 5 days week / 4 hrs day € 66,98

We estimate and calculate here based on four hours GPU intensive gaming per day / 5 days a week with this card.

Above, a chart of relative power consumption. This is the entire PC (not just the card as just measured) with the GPU(s) stressed 100%, and the CPU(s) left in idle. Mind you that these are the extreme peak measurements, overall power consumption will, obviously, be lower.

But what is interesting is that power consumptions was actually higher than the GTX 480, not lower as NVIDIA claims. Yet we also really need to mention that the board used (engineering sample) had an older BIOS and that power consumption on this board might be a tad higher as a result of it.

Here is Guru3D's power supply recommendation:

GeForce GTX 580

On your average system the card requires you to have a 650 Watt power supply unit.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-580-review/7

So no, you will need a bigger PSU.
 
Nice copy and paste ^^ :rolleyes:

You'll be fine with that 520W PSU. That 600W recommendation is because many PSUs in the market aren't even remotely close to maintaining 600W; so they have to raise the PSU requirements to account for them as well.

A 580 GTX running on a i7 920 (overclocked) draws about 450W at the wall. You'll be fine.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/12/20/asus_engtx580_video_card_review/9
 
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Personally, I don't think I'd want my PSU running so close to max, even if it is technically enough. And you certainly wouldn't want to do any overclocking of the 580 on that PSU - the power draw goes up substantially when overclocked.
 
Forceman said:
Personally, I don't think I'd want my PSU running so close to max, even if it is technically enough. And you certainly wouldn't want to do any overclocking of the 580 on that PSU - the power draw goes up substantially when overclocked.
Click to expand...

it'll be running like 60-70% overclocked...max....

sure, a 600 will be closer to the ideal 50%, but its not like it will be running 80 or 90%
 
Procyon12 said:
it'll be running like 60-70% overclocked...max....

sure, a 600 will be closer to the ideal 50%, but its not like it will be running 80 or 90%
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean? If it is drawing 450W at the wall (from Skillz post), then that is about 90% of a 520W power supply (may be less, I can't remember which side the PSU inefficiency hits). My 2600K (which draws quite a bit more than his X2, for sure) with a GTX 580 was routinely drawing over 400W at the wall when I checked it. I'm not saying it wouldn't run, but I'd be more comfortable with a new 650W PSU rather than a 2 year old 520W.
 
Forceman said:
Not sure what you mean? If it is drawing 450W at the wall (from Skillz post), then that is about 90% of a 520W power supply (may be less, I can't remember which side the PSU inefficiency hits). My 2600K (which draws quite a bit more than his X2, for sure) with a GTX 580 was routinely drawing over 400W at the wall when I checked it. I'm not saying it wouldn't run, but I'd be more comfortable with a new 650W PSU rather than a 2 year old 520W.
Click to expand...

ok so 450w at the wall...means at about 80% efficiency about 360W system consumption...thats 69% load on a 520W psu.
 
I'll just throw in my bit of personal experience.

I had a AMD Phenom 1055T overclocked to 3.8ghz and a PNY GTX580 running on a 550w Antec BP550 for about six months, and experienced no issues. My motherboard fried at that point, (My fault, I was trying to push 4.0ghz) so I upgraded to an i5, but the 550w PSU is still going strong in that machine. Obviously, YMMV, but you can probably run a GTX580 on your PSU as long as you aren't overclocking.

As to the other questions, if you switch to an i5-3450, you will gain some headroom, because the TDP of an i5 3450 is 77w while the tdp of your 1050t is 125w, IIRC.

Finally, if you decide to do to an upgrade of your CPU/mobo, if you have the money, I don't see why you couldn't buy a psu, as long as you buy a quality unit that will actually be an upgrade for you. Don't just look at wattage, also look at the amperage available on the 12v rail.
 
You need 40A on the 12V rail to run a GTX 580. The Neo ECO 520W has 40A on the 12v rail. IMHO, that is cutting it way too close to be worth it. I'd also feel a lot safer with 600W.
 
Forceman said:
He's quoting the specs from the Antec site - that PSU supplies 40A on the 12V rail. Remember it is also has to supply the 3.3V and 5V rails.
Click to expand...

Right and the 3.3v rail has 24A and the 5v rail also has 24A.

Either way, that PSU will be fine for the OP's setup.
 
azeem40 said:
I still don't see how having it at exactly 40A is "fine".
Click to expand...

The card doesn't draw 40A on it's own, still.

If you click on the link I provided, you'll see that without a video card the system was drawing 157W at the wall, adding the video card then overclocking it the system was drawing 519W at the wall... that's a total of 362W by adding the GPU, which is only ~30A. Now mind you, this is measurements at the wall... NOT after the PSU which is what the PSU will actually put out.
 
azeem40 said:
You need 40A on the 12V rail to run a GTX 580. The Neo ECO 520W has 40A on the 12v rail. IMHO, that is cutting it way too close to be worth it. I'd also feel a lot safer with 600W.
Click to expand...

uhh no.

A GTX580 needing 40A and a GTX 580 being reccomended in a system with a power supply with 40A is not saying the same thing.
 
Skillz said:
The card doesn't draw 40A on it's own, still.

If you click on the link I provided, you'll see that without a video card the system was drawing 157W at the wall, adding the video card then overclocking it the system was drawing 519W at the wall... that's a total of 362W by adding the GPU, which is only ~30A. Now mind you, this is measurements at the wall... NOT after the PSU which is what the PSU will actually put out.
Click to expand...

What would be the required PSU for a Radeon 7850, then?
 
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